Photo by Zeinab NajmDearborn High School students from The Russ Gibb Digital Media Center program prepare their speaking orders just before at the 2018 Student Film Festival May 9.

By ZEINAB NAJMTimes-Herald Newspapers

DEARBORN — Students of The Russ Gibb Digital Media Center video program premiered seven short-length films and one feature film during the 19th annual Film Festival May 9 and 10 at the Michael A. Guido Theater, 15801 Michigan Ave.

Films the students created for the 2018 festival are “Stunted,” “Potluck,” “Spilled Milk,” “When They Meet,” “Cult Movie,” “Quiet,” “Stile and Steve” and “More Punch.”

Students began the filmmaking process at the start of the school year by generating and pitching their ideas, then voting on them before selecting teams to create each film.

The feature film, “Stunted,” is about a boy who wants to put on a stunt in order to get attention, but his plans go astray when an arch enemy tries to stop him.

Dearborn Hight School senior Dylan Pescarolo executive produced the 54-minute film which began filming in October.

“It was great to work on this film and finally finish it because we had to reshoot major scenes and would get off schedule sometimes,” he said. “The film was shot at Dearborn High, Bryant Middle School, Fordson High School, the City Council Chambers inside the Dearborn Administrative Center and a mansion in Grosse Pointe.”

Pescarolo also starred in the film “Potluck” which also was shot in Grosse Pointe, and centers around a group of friends who hadn’t seen each other in five years.

“Potluck took one day to film and is 11 minutes long,” Pescarolo. “My favorite part of filming that movie was getting to eat all the food during the dinner scene.”

DHS junior Mei Ling Marzonie wrote, co-produced, co-directed and starred in “Potluck” along with DHS senior Sema Alsaid who directed, produced, edited, co-wrote and worked on its cinematography.

“’Potluck’ was the first film I worked on and I learned a lot from my classmates about film production,” Marzonie said.

Another film Marzonie was a part of is “Spilled Milk” which was a class assignment that made the festival lineup. The two-minute film about getting a guy to call a girl first was filmed in the DHS lunch room and was made in two hours.

The film “When They Meet” is a five-minute short film that was filmed in one day, but had two weeks of preparation.

“We filmed ‘When They Meet’ at La Pita,” Marzonie said. “It’s an over-the-top comedy about a girl and a guy who meet online and go on their first date.”

To watch film trailers or for more information on the video program go to www.wdhsvideo.org.